1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to paper shredding devices, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved paper shredding device for separating and shredding a carbon paper sheet from a credit card invoice slip having a first original copy separated by a carbon paper sheet from a second copy. Due to the potential for unauthorized illegal use of credit card numbers obtained by individuals from discarded credit card invoice carbon sheets, it has become a customary practice to return the carbon sheet to the customer along with the second invoice copy. Handling this carbon paper sheet soils the customer's hands and additionally requires the customer to manually shred and dispose of the carbon sheet. In order to avoid this tedious and messy practice, the present invention provides a device which separates the original and second invoice copies from the carbon sheet and directs the carbon sheet to a shredding cutter roller.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of paper shredding devices are known in the prior art. A typical example of such a paper shredding device is to be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,361, which issued to W. Schwarz on Apr. 29, 1975. This patent discloses a device comminuting trash in which two parallel shafts are driven by a motor through a reduction gearing arrangement. A plurality of comminuting blades are provided on the parallel shafts for comminuting trash fed from a gravity feed hopper. U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,676, which issued to A. Bialski et al on Dec. 2, 1980, discloses a device for applying forces to a waste paper mixture to procure progressive fragmentation and resulting in fine paper fragments. U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,743, which issued to J. Ducasse on Sept. 13, 1983, discloses an articulated knife rotor assembly in a machine for comminuting materials which includes a shaft rotated about its longitudinal axis. A plurality of blade holders are rigidly fixed to the shaft for rotation therewith. U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,896, which issued to M. Cerroni on Dec. 25, 1984, discloses a device for comminuting solid refuse. The device utilizes a gravity feed hopper for feeding refuse to a rotating shaft carrying a plurality of cutting blades. U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,126, which issued to C. Prentice et al on July 7, 1987, discloses a shredder which includes a housing for receiving material to be shred and an arbor carrying plural teeth thereon mounted in the housing. An anvil is provided having plural grating members interspersed with the teeth on the arbor, to shred material which is introduced into the housing. The teeth are fixed on the arbor in a helical pattern with each tooth being angularly displaced with respect to the next laterally adjacent tooth.
While the above mentioned devices are suited for their intended usage, none of these devices disclose a paper shredder for separating and shredding a carbon paper sheet from a credit card invoice slip having a first original copy separated by a carbon paper sheet from a second copy. Additionally, none of the aforesaid devices disclose the use of a pair of parallel spaced vacuum plates for separating a first original copy and a second copy from a carbon paper sheet in a credit card invoice and directing these copies to separate receptacles while shredding the carbon paper sheet. Inasmuch as the art is relatively crowded with respect to these various types of paper shredding devices, it can be appreciated that there is a continuing need for and interest in improvements to such paper shredding devices, and in this respect, the present invention addresses this need and interest.